The Errant Airship
THE next day was warm and sunny, with hardly any wind. It would have
been an ideal day for cricket, thought Hamerton, as he gazed through
the window upon the deserted courtyard. It made confinement doubly
hard and irksome.
Continuously the noise of machinery and the busy hum of workmen rose
in the sultry air. The smell of petrol and occasionally wafts of hot
mineral oil seemed to pervade the atmosphere.
Yet above the din could be heard the dull roar of the sea: the sullen
breakers lashing themselves into masses of white foam upon the inner
edges of the Hohe Brunnen shoal. It was a sure sign of a storm far
out to sea.
The Sub was listless. In vain he tried to fix his mind upon the books
the fair-haired lieutenant had lent him. It was all to no purpose.
Again and again he threw down the volume and returned to the window
to look upon a vista of paving stones and an almost blank wall.
At about three in the afternoon a shadow, travelling at a great pace,
fell athwart the courtyard. It could not be a cloud, for the sky was
of a deep-blue colour and destitute of any form of condensed vapour.
Presently he saw the reason for the shadow. It was a huge military
Zeppelin, larger than any he had yet seen. Owing to the altitude of
the airship it was difficult to judge her dimensions, but by a
rough-and-ready comparison with the height of the men who formed her
crew, Hamerton came to the conclusion that she was at least eight
hundred feet in length, forty-five feet in height and about seventy
feet in beam. Not only did she have three cars slung underneath, but
on the upper surface of the outer aluminium envelope was a broad
gangway, terminating at each end in a wedge-shaped deck-house.
At first Hamerton could see only the rails of the gangway, but as the
airship stood farther away to the eastward he discovered four guns so
mounted as to be able to fire in a vertical direction, besides being
able to be trained abeam.
With the naked eye the Sub counted thirty-two men on board. Others
were doubtless in the nacelles, so that he estimated that the crew
numbered not far short of fifty.
Unlike the British dirigible, the craft was painted a dull grey on
her under body and an olive green above the line of her greatest
perimeter. The only splash of bright colour about her was the black
cross ensign of Germany that flew from a short staff at the after end
of the upper platform.
As the Zeppelin passed over the West Kalbertan Battery her speed was
at least thirty miles an hour; but even as the Sub watched she
lurched forward and settled down to a pace of nearly thrice her
former rate.
In a very few moments she was lost to sight, although flying at an
altitude of nearly a thousand feet, travelling in the direction of
the North Sea entrance to the Kiel Canal.
"Unwieldy brute!" ejaculated the Sub. "I wonder what headway she
would make in a gale of wind? It's a fine day, so I suppose they are
taking their pet gasbag for an airing. It strikes me pretty forcibly
that they'll have to be pretty sharp about it, for that ground swell
is a certain sign of a gale."
Twenty minutes later an air squadron consisting of seven seaplanes
flew overhead. The Sub regarded them with curiosity. He had heard
that the German authorities, after repeated experiments, had decided
to build a number of improved seaplanes to be stationed on the
Frisian coast, and now for the first time he saw them in actual
flight.
They were flying low--at less than a hundred and fifty feet above the
ground; but they flew none the less steadily. The floats were really
three boats, the centre one big, about twenty feet in length, and
decked in with the exception of two small wells. Immediately in front
of the foremost one was a one-pounder automatic gun protected by a
V-shaped shield. Abaft the after cockpit was a machine gun of the
Maxim type.
On either side of the main float was a subsidiary one, serving simply
as outriggers to give lateral stability to the seaplane when resting
on the surface of the sea.
Between the floats, and suspended from rods running in a fore-and-aft
direction, were a dozen cylindro-conical objects that the Sub
recognized as bombs for dropping upon hostile ships and
fortifications.
It was clearly evident that all the power of offence was distributed
on or between the floats, leaving the rest of the seaplane for
elevating, steering, and propulsion purposes. The main planes were
comparatively short in distance from tip to tip, but broad in
proportion. The fabric was apparently of light, non-flexible metal,
curved with the convex side uppermost, while both planes were set at
an angle of about sixty degrees to the centre line. There were two
propellers, one set slightly below the planes, the shaft being driven
by means of a chain connected with the engine. The second propeller,
worked on a shaft within and projecting beyond the main shaft, was so
arranged that its rotation was in an opposite direction to that of
the after one. By this means the after propeller "gripped" the air
thrown back by the foremost one, and a considerable increase in speed
was claimed to have been obtained.
Extending right aft for a distance of ten feet beyond the vertical
rudder was a long hollow pole made of aluminium. Surrounding it was a
canvas covering, secured at the end nearest the main planes by a
metal band. This device was supposed to be for the purpose of saving
life should the seaplane become disabled in mid-air and be unable to
volplane down to the surface of the sea. By drawing the metal band
forward the canvas would be distended by the wind and thus form a
huge parachute. Provided the crew were not thrown clear of the
falling craft they would be able to descend with it at very little
risk.
An experiment had been tried in Kuriche Haff only a few days
previously. A seaplane was hoisted to a height of two thousand feet
by a dirigible. The parachute safety band was released, and the craft
dropped. It fell erratically for nearly a hundred yards before the
parachute became fully distended; then, tilting nose downwards, it
continued descending in a series of spirals, its rate being greatly
retarded. Striking the surface of the water the seaplane dived till
half the length of her floats and a part of her main planes were
submerged. Then, like a cork, she leapt clear of the surface and
settled naturally on her floats.
Hamerton, of course, was ignorant of this highly-confidential test,
but the unusual sight of a pole projecting far in the wake of the
seaplanes attracted his attention. At first he came to the conclusion
that it was a form of aerial torpedo tube, till it suddenly occurred
to him that it might be a form of arresting the attraction of gravity
in the event of an accidental downward plunge.
Almost as soon as the seaplanes passed out of sight Lieutenant
Schaffer entered the room, accompanied by the two men who acted as
jailers.
"You haf seen part of our Zherman air fleet?" he enquired affably.
"Yes," replied Hamerton; then, on the spur of the moment, he added:
"I see you have adopted the parachute principle in the event of an
accident?"
"Mein Gott!" ejaculated the astonished lieutenant; "how you know
that?"
"Saw it with my own eyes," replied the Sub, delighted at the
successful guess he had made. "I thought your people would collar the
idea from us sooner or later."
"Collar? What do you mean?" asked Schaffer, completely mystified.
"Collar? That something is around the neck--dog collar, horse collar,
stylish collar, hein?"
"Well, crib, then."
"Crib? Ach, I haf it! Crib something is to do with children. You say
our Zherman air fleet it is in infancy, eh? You are all wrong, as you
will see."
"I said nothing of the sort," said Hamerton, smiling. "I said you
collared, cribbed our ideas--sneaked them."
"I understand not still," expostulated the German lieutenant. "I haf
not learned the word 'sneak' in my vocabulary."
"Then suppose I explain that you borrowed the idea of a parachute
from us?"
Schaffer literally gasped.
"You then have a like device in England? Then it is by spies such as
you, Herr Smidt, that it was made known."
Whatever had been his object in entering Hamerton's cell the Sub
never found out, for the lieutenant lost no time in informing his
superior officer that these English had already got to learn how to
prevent disasters to aircraft heavier than air.
As Hamerton had foreseen, the gale began to make itself felt. Just
before sunset a strong breeze from the east sprang up, and in less
than twenty minutes the Sub could see columns of spray dashing high
above the seawall between the East Kalbertan Battery and the Düne
Fort.
As darkness set in the wind increased in violence. Clouds of sand and
salt spray were flung against the window of the Sub's room, the
furious blasts howled over the chimney pots and through the overhead
telegraph wires.
Then the searchlights were switched on. The giant beams swung slowly
to and fro, till at one moment the upper part of the wall opposite
Hamerton's window was as brilliant as polished silver, at another as
black as Erebus.
Still no rain fell. Up to the present it was a gale of wind, one that
would blow itself out in a comparatively short space of time.
Hamerton had no thought of going to bed. He stuck to his post at the
window, fully expecting to see the giant airship come battling with
the gale in an endeavour to find shelter in the cavernous sheds on
the island of Heligoland.
Suddenly, above the howling of the elements, a bugle rang out. From
the barrack quarters within the battery issued scores of men dressed
in brown-canvas working suits. Without waiting to form up they ran in
the direction of the main gateway. Clearly something of the nature of
an accident had occurred to warrant this hasty nocturnal parade.
Then Hamerton saw the reason. Picked out by several searchlights the
giant Zeppelin appeared. She was battling bravely against the wind,
but slowly and surely was being driven astern. She was flying low.
Her commander evidently decided that it was too hazardous to attempt
to return to her proper berth, and was endeavouring to descend under
the lee of the East Kalbertan Battery, where a shallow depression in
the wake of the low walls offered the only possible though doubtful
shelter. With the thought of previous disasters fresh in their minds
the Germans dreaded the possibility of being blown far out to sea.
They would not even take the risk of sheltering to leeward of the
lofty Heligoland; they preferred to attempt to secure the unwieldy
airship on Sandinsel.
Lower and lower sank the Zeppelin, till her nacelles were hidden from
Hamerton's eyes by the intervening wall. Her way seemed momentarily
checked as ropes were thrown to the hundreds of waiting soldiers. As
fast as they could move, two-thirds of her crew slid down to earth,
only the officers and twelve men remaining until the Zeppelin should
be properly secured.
"I wish the blessed thing would smash up," thought the Sub. "Not that
I want any lives to be lost, but because the Germans crow over their
wonderful airships and construct elaborate castles in the air for the
humiliation of England."
Even as these thoughts flashed through his mind the airship swung
round broadside to the wind. In an instant swarms of men were being
lifted off the ground or being dragged over it like dead flies on a
resinous string. Gamely they struggled to keep the errant aircraft
under control, but in vain.
Rapidly the Zeppelin drifted towards the West Kalbertan Battery, till
her huge envelope loomed high above the fortifications. With a dull
thud the nacelles struck the earthworks. The frail aluminium gave
before the shock, and the remainder of her crew, with one exception,
were precipitated upon the sand.
Relieved of their weight, the Zeppelin bounded upwards for a distance
of about ten feet, just clearing the formidable wire entanglements.
Then a downward eddy seemed to strike her, and she dropped till the
fragments of her cars touched the pavement of the courtyard. The
nearmost portion of her aluminium envelope was now within thirty
yards of Hamerton's window. He realized that nothing short of a
miracle could prevent the unmanageable craft from buckling itself
against the angle of the storehouse in which his cell was situated.
With praiseworthy devotion the soldiers still hung on to the guide
ropes till the foremost of them were hauled to within a few feet of
the barbed-wire fence. Thrown into a blaze of silvery light by the
searchlights, the entanglements became strikingly apparent to the
luckless soldiers. It was more than flesh and blood could
stand--being slowly dragged over an expanse of sharp iron barbs. In a
moment the guide ropes from the after-end of the Zeppelin were
abandoned.
The next thing Hamerton saw was a shower of tiles, bricks, laths, and
plaster falling about him, to the accompaniment of a succession of
most appalling crashes.
Instinctively he leapt backwards as a twisted and distorted mass of
metal was forced through the aperture. Between the rents in the
masonry the slanting beams of half a dozen searchlights played upon
the dust-laden atmosphere. The grinding of the enormous body of the
Zeppelin, added to the roar of the wind and the shouts of dismay of
the baffled soldiers, formed a fitting accompaniment to the scene of
desolation.
A train of thoughts flashed across the Sub's mind. He realized that
he was in imminent peril of being crushed like a rat in a trap
beneath the falling brickwork, for one side of the room was already
showing signs of sharing the fate of the part facing the original
direction of the impact. A sudden resolution seized him. Better by
far to make a rush for the tangle of aluminium rods and sheeting and
trust to be lifted clear of the debris than to remain in danger of
the collapsing walls.
With a quick, lever-like wrench the remains of the nacelles described
a complete semicircle. The Zeppelin, free for'ard, was swinging round
on her heel, like a ship that has struck stern foremost upon a
submerged rock. Then, with a comparatively slow yet determined
movement, the wreckage began to assume an upward motion.
Hardly realizing what he was doing, Hamerton sprang over a heap of
bricks and dried mortar, and grasped one of the vertical rods that
still connected the damaged car with the outer envelope of the gas
bag. Half-blinded with dust, his grotesque clothing rent almost from
his back, he found himself being raised from the ruin of his cell. He
felt the cold breeze of the open air upon his heated forehead.
Then, hardly knowing whether he was on or above the ground, he flung
his legs round the twisted rod to which he had clung so desperately
with his hands. Even as he did so the side wall of his cell
collapsed. Another few seconds and he would have been crushed to
death beneath the debris.
Released from the restraining wall, and no longer held in
semi-captivity by the swarm of men, who had been compelled to
relinquish their hold upon the guide ropes, the damaged Zeppelin
bounded to a height of nearly a hundred feet, the while being urged
onward at a tremendous pace towards the rocky cliffs of Heligoland.
The Sub was not one to lose his nerve even in a tight corner. His
first step was to gain a place of greater security than that afforded
by a trailing rod that ended in space less than three feet beneath
him. Hand over hand he climbed, till he reached a metallic beam that
at a very recent period formed one of the fore-and-aft girders of the
lower gangway.
Here he sat in comparative safety. He could rest until he regained
his breath ere he made another bid for greater safety.
The wind no longer howled through the chaos of broken and twisted
rods. Borne along at almost the same velocity as that of the gale,
the Zeppelin was apparently floating in the still air, although in
reality her speed over the ground was now not much less than sixty
miles an hour. Assailed on all sides by the brilliant searchlights,
the derelict aircraft was heading straight for the cliffs at Bucket
Horn. Unless she lifted herself sufficiently to clear the one hundred
and twenty-eight feet of cliff she would inevitably be dashed to
pieces against the sandstone bluff.
Shading his eyes from the blinding glare, Hamerton could see the
precipitous wall of rock momentarily growing larger and larger.
Thirty feet were wanting to clear the edge of the cliff. It seemed as
if nothing could save the uncontrollable Zeppelin.
Hamerton set his jaw tightly. He fully realized the danger. He was
mentally picturing the impending disaster, the bulging sides of the
envelope charging the cliff and being crushed like an empty eggshell
against the inflexible wall of sandstone. The remains of the nacelles
would be swung violently inwards, the concussion would result in his
being dislodged from his position and being flung heavily upon the
rocky, breaker-swept ledges at the base of the island.
Yet the expected did not happen. An upward eddy, caused by the wind
being deflected by the perpendicular cliff, tossed the Zeppelin in
its boisterous grip.
Her stern portion, being lighter than the bows, since most of her
weight had already been torn away from that end, swung clear of the
cliff. Hamerton could see the roof of a searchlight shed slip past
barely twenty feet beneath him. Then came a sudden jerk that wellnigh
dislodged the Sub from his precarious position. Only his tenacious
grip saved him.
The whole of the enormous bulk of the Zeppelin seemed to pause
momentarily, then with a sickening, heaving motion the aircraft shot
upwards to an additional height of five hundred feet. In swinging
past the brink of the chasm the destruction of the machinery
compartment of the midship nacelle was completed, and her motors,
weighing little short of a ton and a half, were precipitated to the
ground, rolling into a concealed gunpit and greatly damaging the
breech mechanism of the weapon.
Just then a loud roar came from one of the forts, the powerful Spitz
Horn Battery. The Germans, despairing at the loss of the pride of
their aerial fleet, and fearful lest she should be borne by the gale
to the shores of the hated England, had decided upon the expedient of
riddling her with heavy shells. In the hope that their vaunted
hole-closing fabric would in this instance prove unequal to the
conditions laid upon it, the gunners used the secondary armament of
twenty-six-centimetres weapons.
With an unearthly shriek the first projectile, weighing nearly three
hundred pounds, passed harmlessly above the envelope of the errant
Zeppelin, bursting with a lurid red flash at a distance of five
hundred yards behind her. Two more shells followed, almost
simultaneously. These fell far beneath the rapidly-moving target.
Although the aim in a vertical plane was good, the artillery-men were
hopelessly at a loss as regards elevation. The Zeppelin, now only
faintly visible in the rays of the distant searchlights, was out of
range and well on her way across the stormy North Sea.